Under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, universal access to clean energy (SDG7) has become a major focal point of international energy investments. As one of the most widely used forms of energy, electricity is an integral element in sustainable development. While growing investments in electrification from 2010-19 significantly improved global access to electricity, current projections suggest that the world will, nonetheless, fail to meet its target of universal access to electricity by 2030 (SE4All 2022).

In this report, the Arizona State University team provide a high-level synthesis of the results of new research into the social and economic impacts of electricity access in Sierra Leone. The purpose of this research was to develop, pilot, and evaluate the use of novel methods for measuring two critical parameters that influence the social and economic impact of energy projects: the social value of energy (Biswas 2020; Miller et al. 2015a) and the energy-poverty nexus (Biswas et al. forthcoming; Biswas 2020).

Note: This report is part of a package of three reports, which together summarise the results of the project. The other two reports are:

• Summary of Findings and Data

• Data Collection Methodology